Machine for punching the eyes of axes and similar tools



{No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet J. W. BOWERS.

MAUHINE FOR PUNGHING THE EYES or AXES AND SIMILAR, TOOLS. No.296,818.Patented Apr. 15, 1884.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

"J; W. BOWERS. I MACHINE EOEEUNGHING THE EYES 0E AXES AND SIMILAR TUOLS.No. 296,818. Patented Apr. 15, 1884.

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Wm-M55555 INVCNTEIR Hurrah ATENT rrrcn,

JOHN W. BOWERS, Old FRANKLIN, ASSIGNOR TO' THE DOUGLAS AXE MANUFACTURINGCOMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR PUNCHING THE EYES F AXES AND SIMILAR TOOLS.

$PECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 296,818, dated April15, 1884.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J OHN WV. BoWnRs, of

Franklin, in the county of Norfolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Making theEyes of Axes and Similar Articles,

of which the following is a specification.

trivances-ibr instance by placing the end of a bar of metal betweenjaws, which as they descend squeeze the metal into the desired form forthe aX-poli, and immediately thereafter, as the said jaws descendfarther, force the poll down upon apin rigidly fixed below, therebypunching the eye nearly through from that side, and then by raising thejaws release the blank, which is then reversed and the operationrepeated, whereby the eye is punched, as set forth in the patent ofDodge, No. 81,660, dated March 12, 1861. The eye is then more perfectly-formed by the operation of a third pin. Also, by placing the blankbetween two punches, arranged one above and the other below in the sameline, in a vertically-sliding frame which is caused to reciprocate bymeans of projecting teeth on a pair of rollers acting upon lugs on thesides of said frame, and by this means partially form the eye andafterward finish it by repeated thrusts of another punch, substantiallyas set forth in the Donald Patent No. 133,360, dated November 26, 1872.In the manufacture of some tools also a punch is driven through theblank and the metal drawn down to the proper thickness around thispunch, or an eye-pin under a trip-hammer. So far asI am aware, however,the eyes Application filed May 8,1888. (No model.)

tion with that embodying my improved dies described and claimed in thespecification accompanying my application, sworn to on the 19th day ofFebruary, 1883, and filed in the Patent Oliice on the 23d day of saidFebruary. After the pattern hasbeen operated upon by my said improveddies, producing a poll of the form shown at Fig. 6 of the drawings, itis placed upon one edge with the head toward the front between theclamps of the machine herein described, there gripped firmly and the eyepunched, which operation forces the metal at the thin part of the pollout against the gripping-faces of the clamps, and thereby gives it asubstantially perfect shape.

My improved punching-machine consists of a pair of lovers, which arepivoted near their front or gripping ends to a bed piece,which are keyedto the anvil of a drop-hammermachine, and which serve as clamps tofirmly hold the poll while it is being punched. I have found that inorder to get the desirable amount of gripping power between the frontends of these levers, the length gofl which they project in front and inthe rear of their pivots should be in the proportion of about one tofive. By a system of levers controlled by a handle pivoted placing shimsof metal behind them, and

are held in place by means of clamps on the front of the gripping endsof saidlevers, made adjustable so as to accommodate dies of varyingdimensions. In the'front side of thehammer .of the machine I'make a slotor mortise, into which is fitted a tool-stock for holding the punch usedfor forming the eye. This toolstock is held in place in the said mortiseby means of two adjustable gibs, which serve as stops, one on each sideof the said stock, socured to the front of the hammer by bolts, andwhich bear against a tongue projecting from either side of the saidstock. These tongues do not extend entirely 'to the top of the stock,

but a shoulder is left at the top on each side, which strikes upon thetop of the said gibs or stops when the stock is at its lowest position,they being made short enough to allow the said tool-stock to slidevertically up and down within ashort range of movement. In order to keepthe said stock at its highest positionthat is, so that the top thereofshallbear against the upper face of the said mortise in the hammer-it issupported by one or more springs, which, for the sake of convenience, Iattach to the lower face of the hammer, and have them bear against thelower side of the tool-stock, by which means it is held firmly againstthe hammer when it is dropped in the operation of punching the eye ofthe ax or other article. The object of giving the said tool-stock thecapability of a Vertical sliding movement in the hammer is to relievethe strain upon the devices which raise thehammer, for whenthe punch bythe drop of the hammer has been forced into and nearly through the metalof the ax or other article held firmly between the said clamp-levers, itwill require a great amount of power to withdraw the punch therefrom ifapplied with a steady continuouspull; but by percussion the punch can bereadily removed. Therefore the spring beneath the tool-stock should havea strength only a little more than sufficient to'raise the stock andkeep itin close contact with the hammer, so that when the hammerbeginsto rise, after driving the punch into the metal of the ax or otherarticle where it istightly wedged, the resiliency of the spring willallow the stock to slide in the mortise in the hammer until theshoulders on the top of the stock strike upon the stops or top of thegibs'which hold it in place. The hammer will then have acquiredsufficient-momentum to bring the said gibs into contact with theshoulders on the tool-stock with a sharp blow, which will readily knockthe punch out of the metal of the ax-poll, and the spring will thencarry the stock up to its normal position in contact with the hammeragain v My improved machine is intended for punching the eyes of axesand other articles which require to be spreadlaterally at the portionwhere the eye is to be formed, in order to completely fill the dies ofthe clamping-levers and bring the sides of such article to the propershape; for if the ax-poll or other article completely filled the spacebetween the faces of the dies in the gripping end of the clamps beforethe punching operation, it would require sogreat an amount of power andincrease the cost .of construction of the machines so much that it wouldnot be an economical and practical method, all of which will readilyappear from the drawings annexed to this specification and forming apart thereof, wherein Figure 1 represents a front elevation of myimproved punching-machine; Fig. 2, a righthand-side elevation; Fig. 8, avertical section through the center of the machine; Fig. 4, a plan viewof the machine with the hammer and punch removed 5 Fig. 5, a View of thebottom of the hammer, showing the bottom of the tool-stock, and twosprings, which hold it in place. Figs. 6 and 7, respectively, show theform of my improved ax-poll before and after it has been operated uponby the punching-machine.

Like parts of the machine in the different figures are designated by thesame letters.

A is the base-piece or anvil of the machine; B, the upright standards,between which the drop-hammer is held and guided, represented in thedrawings as broken off at the top.

0 is the hammer.

D is the bed-piece keyed to the'ahvil A, and projects back therefrom asufficient distance to support the rear ends of the clamp-levers a,which are pivoted to the bed-piece D at b 1), these pivots extending. upthrough a yoke, a, resting on top of the clamp-levers a. The

pivots b b are held tightly by the top in the yoke c by slotting theyoke from the ends in to the pivot-holes, as indicated at c, and thenclosing these slots by a bolt, (1, running horizontally through the yokeat either end, and a nut, d, screwed onto the end of each.

Back of the rear line of the anvil A, in or der to lighten the bed-pieceD and facilitate the escape of scale, it is cast with an oblong opening,which extends back nearly to the rear end thereof, where two uprightprojections, 0, are cast upon it, one on each side,

and extending through between these upright projections is acentrally-located slot or mortise, into which a block, f, is nicelyfitted, which should -be capable of sliding readily therein. Throughthis block f a mortise, f, is out horizontally through the block atright angles to its sides at the rear end of the mortise, and at anangle of about forty-five degrees with the sides of the block from theforward corners thereof to a perpendicular plane dividing the said blocklongitudinally in the center, thus making a mortise V-shaped at theforward end, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 4, and straight across therear end. In this mortise f the ends of two short togglele'vers, g g,are pivoted at g g, the other ends of which are pivoted at g 9 one tothe rear end of each of the clamp-levers a.

On the top of the upright projections e, and extending acrossand'overlapping the same, is a cap-piece, 71.. grooved out on its underside to shut over the outer edges thereof. On the top of this cappieceit two ears, 1 2', project, in which is pivoted a short link, 70, forkedat its outer end. In the forked end of the link It a lever, Z, ispivoted. This lever Z extends down below the bed-piece D, so that itslower end is in line with about the middle of the anvil A. On the rearend of the block f two cars, 13, project, in which the lever Z is alsopivoted. The lower end of the lever Z is forked to receive the end of anextensible connecting-rod, l, whichis pivoted therein. Thisconnecting-rod Z extends forward through a ioo ' hole made in theanvil-block A, and is pivoted to an upright hand-leven'm, which is alsopivoted at its lower end to a forked lug, m, attached near the bottom ofthe anvil-block; and it will beseen that as the pivots" in the lug m andthe cars a? are the fixed points or unehangeableiulcrums of this seriesof levers, a movement of the hand-lever or toward and from the anvilwill cause the lever Z to vibrate back and forth on its pivot in theforked link It, and the block f, being pivoted to the lever Zthrough theears i, will be. caused to slide backward and forward in the mortise inthe upright pieces 0, and thus by means of the two toggle-levers g g,pivoted to the sliding block f, and to the rear end of each of theclamp-levers at, those ends of the levers will be vibrated toward andfrom each other as the block f slides backward and forward, whichmovement of the rear ends of the clamp-levers a will open and close theforward or gripping ends thereof.

an are the removable and adjustable dies forming the gripping-faces ofthe clamp-levers a, and are held in place by adjusting-clamps, a a, onthe front end of said levers. In the upper face of the bed-piece l) adovetailed groove is made in line with the space between the twogrippingfaces of the clamp-levers a, extending from the front edge ofthe bed-piece back to the oblong opening beyond the anvil, its widthbeing somewhat greater than the thickest aX-poll or other article whichis on dinarily made. In this dovetailed groove a strip of steel, 0, isaccurately fitted, so as not to be liable to move merely by the jar ofthe machine, and is made long enough to extend back of the rear edge ofthe yoke c, and on its front end has a shoulder, 0, projecting down onthe under side of it, through which is an adj usting-screw, 0, the endof which bears against the front of the anvil. An upright projection, p,is forged upon this steel strip 0 at a pointi'ar enough back of thegrippingfaces of the clamps a to allow an ax, axpoll, or other article,as the case may be, to he placed in the proper position between the saidgrippingfaces, and havethe bit-end of the an or poll rest against thesaid projection 1. Small variations in the length of the article to bepunched can be accommodated by the adj ustingscrew, o and, to assistinholding the projecting stop p more firmly, its upper end extends into aslot, p, in the yoke c. The strip 0 is made of steel, the better toresist wear.

q is the tool-stock, fitted in a mortise in the front of the hammer C,for holding the punch E. By means of tongues r 1-, Fig. 5, projectinglaterally from each side of the stock g, at its rear edges, the saidstock is held in place in the hammer by gibs F, bolted to the front sideof thehammer on' either side of the stock. Note-hes s s are cut in thetop of these gibs on their inner edges, next the stock q, to allow spacefor the shoulders s s to move up and down a short distance. Fastened tothe bottom of the hammer G are one or more springs, t, Fig. 5, the endsof which project forward under the bottom of the stock 9, and hold it upin close contact with the upper face of the mortise in the hammer.In-the front of the stock q a central vertical groove is made to receivethe punch E, and in order to hold the punch rigidly and securely in thisgroove, two or more crossbars, a, are bolted to the front of the stockq, and by means of steel set-screws r, projecting through these crossbars, the punch E is firmly held in place.

In order to break the shock of the blow of the hammer whenever itsmomentum is more than sufficient to force the punch into the metal-blankthe proper distance, I place a block of hard wood, to, beneath thehammer on each side, between the standards Band the clamplevers a,making these blocks high enough to project a little above the uppersurface of the yoke 0,- but in place of these blocks of wood, anair-cushion or equivalent means may be used for this purpose. Suchair-cushions or other equivalent means might also be used to assist inwithdrawing the punch from the metal, in which case the punch might berigidly held in the hammer; but I have found in practice that thesliding toolstock is much more efficient and generally desirable, forthe reason that if air-cushions or equivalentmeans are used to assist inwithdrawing the punch from the metal after it has been driven into theblank, the blow of the hammer will have to be sufficiently in exccss'ofthe force needed to drive the punch, to also compress such aircushionsor other means.

a? is an ax or ax-poll gripped between the clamplevers a after it hasbeen operated upon by the punch E. In 3 the arr-poll is shown with thepunch in the position which it will occupy alter the first blow, and thelevers m and Z are in the position which partially releases the pressureof the gripping-faces of the clamps to at the'time when the punch is tobe withdrawn. In Fig. 4 it is represented as it appears in the clamps aafter both blows of the punch have been made and the metal has beenforced out soas to completly fill the diesn.

The operation of my improved punchingmachine is as follows: An ax,aX-poll, or other similar article, of the form substantially as shown inFig. 6, after it has been heated to the proper temperature is taken bythe operator and placed upon one edge, between the dies n n,constituting the gripping-faces of the clamp-levers a. The hand-lever mis then drawn forward into the position shown in Fig. 4:, by whichmovement the lower end of the lever Zis also drawn forward by means ofthe connecting-rod Z. The forward movement of the lever Z pushes theblock f forward in the mortise between the projections e, and at thesame time the ends of the two toggle-levers g g, which are pivoted inthe block f at g g, are carried forward until the toggle-levers are at Ition.

right angles, or nearly so, with the sides of the block f. This willforce the rear ends of the clamp-levers a apart, and consequently presstheir forward or gripping ends together, and tightly squeeze the ax orother article which has been placed between them, resting on the steelstrip 0. As soon as the heated ax or other article has been firmlyclamped, the hammer G is released, and it drops, forcing the punch Einto the metal of the ax, splitting it centrally in the thin portion,and about twothirds through, as shown in Fig. 3. Immediately thehand-lever m is pushed partly back toward the anvil, which relieves tosome eX- tent the pressure of' the gripping-jaws upon the 21K, andthereby renders the withdrawal of the punch more easy. At that momentthe operator throws the lifting devices of the machine into operation,and as the hammer begins to rise the punch is held so tightly in themetal of the ax that the springs 25 are not sufficiently strong to pullit out. The tool stock q will therefore slide in the mortise in thefront of the hammer until the hammer has risen enough to bring the topof the gibs F against the shoulders s s at the top of the stock. Thehammer will then have acquired considerable momentum, and will strikethe shoulders s with a sharp blow, which will easily knock the punch outof the metal of the ax, and as soon as that is done the springs 25should be sufficiently strong to raise the stock until the top of it isbrought into close contact with the top of the mortise again. an is thenpushed entirely in against the anvil, thereby entirely releasing the axor other article, which is turned over, so as to present the other edgeupward. The'hammer is then dropped and the operation above described isrepeated, which completes the f'ormat'ionof the eye in a very perfectmanner. The operation of the punch in forming the eye in an ax, aX-poll, or other article having the form atthe eye portion substantiallylike that shown in Fig. 6, will divide the metal into two parts of equalthickness, and force these out against the faces of the dies at n,heldin the gripping ends of the clamp-levers a, thus giving the articlea substantially perfect shape upon the sides conforming to the face ofthe dies used in the clamp-levers.

Much less power is required to operate my machine than any in use priorto my inven- There is no waste of material in scrapiron, and thepunching is done so quickly The leverhave made the subject of anotherapplication for Letters Patent. 1

' \Vhat I claim is t 1. In a drop-punching machine, the combination of adrop and a tool-stock normally abutting endwise against the drop, withsprings for holding the drop and tool-stock in such position, butpermitting them to slide vertically upon one another, substantially asshown and described.

2. In a drop-punching machine, the combition of a drop and a tool-stockcarried thereby, arranged to slide vertically one upon the other, andhaving their relative movement limited in one direction by abuttingendwise against each other, so as to act as one mass when they descendin the operation of punching, and stops for limitingsuch movement in theother direction, so that after the tool has been forced into the metaland the drop begins to ascend it will at first move independently of thetool-stock, and then after acquiring momentum will suddenly act upon thetool-stock to withdraw the tool from the metal, all substantially asshown and described.

3. In a drop-punching machine, a drop, in combination with a punch heldin a tool-stock capable of separate vertical movement in the drop, andclamping-levers a a, pivoted upon the bed of the machine for firmlyholding the article to be punched in proper position to re-' ceive thethrust of the punch when the drop descends, substantially as described.

4. In a drop-punching machine for punching the eyes of axes, aX-polls,and similar articles, the combination of a drop and punch with a pair ofclamping-levers having removable adjustable dies at n in their grippingends, the faces of which are the counterpart in shape of that which itis desired to produce upon the sides of the finished article, andadjustable clamps n n, for holding said dies therein, all constructedand operated substantially as described.

JOHN W. BOWERS. .Witnesses:

JOHN T. KENNERK, FRANK O. MELOHER.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 296,818, granted April15, 1884, upon the application of John Bowers, of Franklin,Massachusetts, for an improvement in Machines for Punching the Eyes ofAxes and Similar Tools, an error appears in the printed specificationrequiring the following correction, viz: In line 73, page 1, the word ofshould be omitted; and that the Letters Patent should be read with thiscorrection therein to make it conform to the record of the ease in thePatent Ofice.

Signed, countersigned, and sealed this 6th day of May, A. D. 1884.

' M. L. JOSLYN Acting Secretary of the Interior. Conn tersi gnecl BENJ.BUTTERWORTH,

Gommiss-io'im" of Patents.

